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Middle East and North Africa News

By choosing the candidate least identified with the recent policies of the ruling system, a majority sent a strong message to the Supreme Leader and the regime, writes Haleh Esfandiari, in the New York Time's "Room for Debate" section.

"The commentariat is looking for ways to press the administration to act. Their arguments are largely correct: Syria is indeed a moral, humanitarian, and strategic disaster. But their prescription for action is long on generalities and short on specifics," writes Aaron David Miller in a Foreign Policy op-ed.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called on all Iranians to vote in Friday's elections. Last minute changes to the field of candidates and new endorsements for moderate candidate, Hassan Rouhani, have created “buzz” according to a journalist in Tehran. Will this late excitement have an impact on voter turnout, and more importantly, on the actual outcome? To gain insight into the field of candidates and the forces influencing the election, we spoke with the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program Director, Haleh Esfandiari.

Wilson Center Senior Scholar Marina Ottaway discussed the legitimacy of the outcome of Egypt's recent elections and the validity of the country's new constitution in a June 6, 2013 National Interest article.

Sheikh Rachid al Ghannouchi spoke candidly about the new crackdown on Salafi extremists and other challenges Tunisia faces two years after the Jasmine Revolution. "We have to fight against this phenomenon [of extremist violence] through economic development, through the media," Ghannouchi said in Washington.

"Governing is about choosing. When America acts, it has to ask itself two questions, not just, can it accomplish it? If we wanted to unseat the Assads, we could do it. The question is not just that, it's what will it cost? It's the second question that always needs to accompany the first," said Aaron David Miller.

Jane Harman, director, president & CEO of the Wilson Center, is pleased to announce the members of the 2013-2014 fellowship class. The 21 fellows, most of whom are expected to start September 2013, include scholars and practitioners from the United States, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Blasphemy and apostasy laws were applied in a discriminatory manner in several Middle Eastern and North African countries in 2012, according to a new report by the U.S. State Department. “These laws are frequently used to repress dissent, to harass political opponents, and to settle personal vendettas,” Secretary of State Kerry said on May 20.

Dialogue at the Wilson Center is the recipient of two 2013 Telly Awards for the episode “Women and the Arab Spring,” featuring Haleh Esfandiari, Hanin Ghaddar, and Yassmine El Sayed Hani and for the episode “Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan,” featuring Rajiv Chandrasekaran.